Our Doubts Don't Change God's Plans
Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 2 Peter 3:3-7, ESV.
Doubting comes easy, especially when it involves the Second Advent. Day follows day and year follows year and the flow of history goes on and on. And with the lulling passing of time the return of Christ falls into the background of our thinking--transformed into a bit of New Testament mythology or perhaps a pious wish that we think about when we are ill or lose a loved one. But once the crisis is over, our thought patterns get back to "normal" as we plow all our resources into making our earthly future bright and happy.
I remember how vivid the promise of the Second Coming was when I first became a Christian at the age of 19. I was sure I would never reach the age of 30. In fact, I did my last two years of college in one so that I would have a chance to preach before the end.
That was more than 50 years ago. And time still continues relentlessly. Down through history that perception has led many people to scoff at the Bible's teaching on the Advent and to live according to "their own sinful desires," noting that things are as they always have been.
It is at that point that the aggressive Peter jumps into action, noting that the earth-centered philosophy of uniformitarianism overlooks two major facts. First, that there was a beginning when God created the earth. And second, that there had been a massive flood in the time of Noah that had destroyed the civilization of that day. Both of those facts, Peter claims, God brought about by His intervention in history. They were divine actions impossible to predict from the viewpoint of the evolutionary flow of time. And just as certain, he asserts, is the second coming of Jesus.
For Peter, following the teaching of his Lord, the Second Advent is a certain event. And all the doubting and scoffing and wild living by humans will not change that fact.
His words are a wake-up call to all of us. We need to be preparing our lives for more than just a comfortable retirement with our grandchildren. The fact of the Second Advent is just as certain as the reality of the earth on which we live and the air that we breathe.
Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 2 Peter 3:3-7, ESV.
Doubting comes easy, especially when it involves the Second Advent. Day follows day and year follows year and the flow of history goes on and on. And with the lulling passing of time the return of Christ falls into the background of our thinking--transformed into a bit of New Testament mythology or perhaps a pious wish that we think about when we are ill or lose a loved one. But once the crisis is over, our thought patterns get back to "normal" as we plow all our resources into making our earthly future bright and happy.
I remember how vivid the promise of the Second Coming was when I first became a Christian at the age of 19. I was sure I would never reach the age of 30. In fact, I did my last two years of college in one so that I would have a chance to preach before the end.
That was more than 50 years ago. And time still continues relentlessly. Down through history that perception has led many people to scoff at the Bible's teaching on the Advent and to live according to "their own sinful desires," noting that things are as they always have been.
It is at that point that the aggressive Peter jumps into action, noting that the earth-centered philosophy of uniformitarianism overlooks two major facts. First, that there was a beginning when God created the earth. And second, that there had been a massive flood in the time of Noah that had destroyed the civilization of that day. Both of those facts, Peter claims, God brought about by His intervention in history. They were divine actions impossible to predict from the viewpoint of the evolutionary flow of time. And just as certain, he asserts, is the second coming of Jesus.
For Peter, following the teaching of his Lord, the Second Advent is a certain event. And all the doubting and scoffing and wild living by humans will not change that fact.
His words are a wake-up call to all of us. We need to be preparing our lives for more than just a comfortable retirement with our grandchildren. The fact of the Second Advent is just as certain as the reality of the earth on which we live and the air that we breathe.
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